Project Update

I'm finishing up a piece featuring Sexy Vegetable(TM), the delicious and nutritious Caressa Carrot. These photos are of one corner of the pencil sketch before inking. 

Caressa's hangin' out under an ivy-covered arbor.

Inking the ivy was a little tedious...  

 

Caressa has a little rabbit friend!

Survey - Which of these buns is your favorite?

Please use the voting buttons at the right to make your selection. As always, voting is safe and anonymous. 

Great Tips from Your Hairdo

A few excerpts from THE most informative hairdo resource, Your Hairdo (see yesterday's post)...

YES! And I'm cross-eyed!

"Special" as in...

Get ready for an existential crisis...

Quiz:

OH! I KNOW THIS! It's b!

Wiglets?

Your Hairdo

Creepy photo collage I made from this hilarious book, Your Hairdo, published in 1966. 

Can you believe they could cover this topic in only 156 pages? 

(which includes a glossary and index)

 From the good people at Scholastic Book Services!

Font A Lot

Another great font design! Also very 70's-ish. This is from The Monster at the end of this Book, by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin.

This Week's Inspiration

I guess one theme of the week is that I'm really inspired by these super-stylized 1970's lettering designs, like the Logan's Run title. I really like the color combo they used for this Marvel comic adaptation.    

Caution: Take A Disco Nap!

Get it in NOW before you start reading this page turner! Cuz you're gonna be up ALL NIGHT reading about James, aka the "Disco Kid." He's all set to boogie, yet he has no place to go - can you imagine?

I found this book again on my shelves recently - what a gem! (a gift from Veronica a few years ago - thank you!) 

It's quite a cunundrum...

I love the Chapter title typeface here...

Mod Blodge

I get really mesmerized by the Mod Podge logo. I was recently in a Michael's craft store and happened upon an entire wall of Mod Podge bottles - in all different colors! I was transfixed! Here are four of the billion photos I took.   

Things That Are Gross

There are different kinds of gross. Have you seen these candy corn Oreos? They look really super gross, as in, eating one bite might make you barf. But yet, you're slightly curious. No way are you going to buy a friggin' box of them though. Unless it's for a potluck. Then you definitely should.

Then there's spray cheese in a can. What is it about orange food? This is the type of gross food that I never buy because it just seems too gross, but I do think about it occasionally because it is freakin' delicious. If the world was ending - as in a giant meteor was headed for Earth and we'd all be dead in 2 hours - I'd probably go buy a can or two and enjoy it with some Ritz crackers. 

And how about Cinnabons. I hate that they're spelled CinnaBON and not CinnaBUN. For chrissakes, it's a bun!  Actually it's just a stupid cinnamon roll. So how can it be so delicious? Especially when it's so gross in all its gooey, processed-sugary, pulsating, frosting-drenched, decadent glory? The fact that it's so delicious but only sold in the mall and airport always seemed suspect to me, as in, is it even food? I don't seek it out, but I honestly have difficulty passing up a Cinnabun when our paths cross. And when I'm on my deathbed, I definitely want to gorge on a Cinnabun before I pass into the next realm.    

Film Pick - In the Realms of the Unreal

I finally saw the film about artist Henry Darger, In the Realms of the Unreal. It's intense. Darger's life was so tragic and he lived in virtual isolation, creating a bizarre, illustrated 15,000 page story over the course of 40 years. That's 375 pages/year - so basically a page/day for 40 years. His apartment didn't even have a bed in it. He would just come home from his janitor job, sit at his desk and work. The artwork, as strange and disturbing as it is, is so beautiful. His colors are so saturated and striking. I also love how he often leaves aspects of the foreground uncolored.    

It's still summer and I can prove it..

Zinnias! Zinnias are one of my favorite flowers because they bloom in late summer and all through September. Also they are very easy to grow. Back in May or June, I opened a packet of zinnia seeds and sprinkled them into the ground in a spasticated fashion, then watered the area daily, and now they are about 3 feet tall! I love that they are so bright and cheery and they look like cartoon flowers. 

This batch of seeds produced mainly deep fuschia flowers

 But here's a lone light red one!

Financial Planning

I was going through some old files and found my old bank passbook from when I was a young'un. This was before ATM cards. You had to have your passbook on you whenever you withdrew or deposited money and they would record it by stamping the pages inside and then if you behaved they gave you a brontosaurus burger or a dinosaur egg. 

I love how the sticker they put on the front IS SO EMPHATIC. WHICH MUST BE WHY I KEPT IT FOR SO LONG AND WHY I WILL TO DO SO EVEN THOUGH THE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR DECADES. (sorry for all the shouting).

Oh the convenience!

Lotsa New Old Stuff...

Dave has a lot of cool stuff in the apartment. It's amazing what got passed down from previous generations. Like this cast iron bank. It's small but weighs a ton and it has a little key...

Shakespeare says, (quote) Wazzup (unquote). 

Masks from Korea. I thought they would scare me in the
middle of the night when I walk past them. But they haven't.

Adam Struggle Carnival Colorforms Set. 

Grandmother's leather clutch handbag.  

DC's Love Stories

I picked up a copy of DC's Love Stories (100-page Super Spectacular). It's a 2000 reprint of the original 1971 edition. I love the super cheesy, crazy melodramatic stories and the artwork is fantastic, featuring Ric Estrada, Wally Wood, Jay Scott Pike, Bob Oksner, Mort Drucker, Tony Abruzzo, Art Saaf, and Vince Colletta, to name a bunch!

Also, it's a REALLY handy 'ready-reference' if you are trying to figure out how to draw people kissing. 

 

Friday is "Post A Doodle" Day

I was trying to create a rabbit character for a larger piece I'm working on. I wanted him to be both creepy and funny. This is one of the sketches I did, but I ended up going with another design. 

I'm horrifying and I want to hug you!

Treasure Chest "Mash-up" Strip

More Weird Comics

More from the comic Treasure Chest, published by the Catholic church in the 40's-'50's. This great piece is by Frances Crandall.

The alien is the bald fellow.  

The cocktail server is the alien's son. 

Labor Unions - A Vintage Catholic Comic Explains

I love finding old, weird comics like "Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact," a comic put out by the Catholic church in the 1940's-50's. 'Treasure Chest' was supposed to satisfy kids' appetite for comics while delivering stories that the church deemed appropriate. This issue features a piece about labor unions. The cover art is by Lloyd Ostendorp. I also included a page excerpt. It's pretty interesting - and fitting for Labor Day!